finna

[Gordon, Matthew J.]

The discussion of  "I loves me some X" as potentially a  hypervernacularism has reminded me of a use of 'finna'  that didn't seem right to me. The context was HBO's new cop show, The Wire. A youngish, thugish African-American character who is cooperating with the cops asks something like " Are you finna go after them?" I'm sorry I don't have the exact quote.

What struck me about this usage is that the cops were not immediately preparing to go after the bad guys. The usage in this context seemed to me equivalent to "Are you planning to go after them" and NOT "Are you about to go after them". I'm not a native speaker of "finna/fixin' to" but isn't immediacy required for it's usage?

Maybe this feature doesn't operate the same way in AAVE as in white vernaculars that use it.